Foundation Ukraine, together with the Centre for Citizenship Education Foundation, is implementing activities in Lower Silesia under the “Professional Development of Education Staff” module of the government programme for equal educational opportunities for children and young people “Friendly School” for 2025–2027.
As the regional operator in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, we will support schools and education staff in developing the competences needed to work in culturally and linguistically diverse environments. The activities will reach more than 120 schools in Lower Silesia and over 270 members of education staff.
About the programme
The programme is aimed at schools attended by students from Ukraine who meet the conditions set out in the Programme. Its implementation supports the functioning of the entire school community, including children and young people with migration or refugee experience from countries other than Ukraine who attend Polish schools, their Polish peers, parents and guardians, as well as teachers.
Programme objective:
The main objective of the Programme is to support schools attended by students from Ukraine by creating conditions in which entire school communities feel safe, and children and young people can build positive peer relationships and develop their knowledge, skills and competences.
The Programme includes three support modules:
Module 1 “Assistant Support”
Сo-financing the employment of assistants referred to in Article 165(8a) of the Polish Education Law. Among other tasks, assistants identify stages of culture shock and barriers to adaptation and integration, and undertake activities aimed at helping students adjust to the new realities of Polish schools and, in the longer term, support equal educational opportunities within the wider school community.
Module 2 “Well-being of the School Community”
Aims to provide various forms of support for the well-being of the school community, including:
• support for students – specialist consultations, specialist psychological support and career guidance,
• support for parents or guardians of students with migration or refugee experience in addressing educational and parenting-related challenges and in developing their parenting skills,
• support for education staff in addressing educational, teaching and care-related challenges.
Module 3 “Professional Development of Education Staff”
Aims to improve and strengthen the professional competences of education staff, including through training in the following areas:
• educational support related to migration or refugee experience,
• working with classes and student groups attended by students with migration or refugee experience,
• supporting the inclusion of students,
• individual support for students.
What activities will be implemented under Module 3 in Lower Silesia?
The activities will begin with an assessment of the needs of education staff in the schools covered by the support. The assessment will help identify key challenges, needs and areas requiring further development, and will provide the basis for planning the next forms of support.
Based on the identified needs, four main forms of support will be implemented:
Training sessions and workshops
Training sessions and workshops will be delivered to strengthen the knowledge and practical competences of education staff, including in the areas of:
- educational support for students with migration or refugee experience,
- working with culturally and linguistically diverse classes and groups,
- supporting the integration and inclusion of students,
- identifying the needs of children and young people with migration experience,
- providing individual support to students,
- creating a safe and inclusive school environment.
Expert consultations
School staff will have access to consultations with experts. These consultations will focus on analysing specific situations and challenges that arise in everyday work and jointly identifying possible ways of addressing them.
Support may relate both to work with an individual student and to the functioning of an entire class, teaching team or school community.
School cooperation networks
Cooperation and experience-sharing networks will be established for people working in schools participating in the programme.
Their purpose will be to enable:
- the exchange of experience and good practices,
- the sharing of solutions developed by individual schools,
- joint discussion of problems and challenges,
- stronger cooperation between schools facing similar situations.
The cooperation networks will also support the development of lasting relationships between education staff from different institutions across Lower Silesia.
Process-based school support
Some schools will receive process-based support, meaning a more comprehensive and long-term form of assistance tailored to the situation and needs of the individual school.
The process will include, among other things:
- an in-depth analysis of the school’s needs,
- identification of areas requiring development,
- setting objectives and planning activities,
- supporting staff in implementing planned changes,
- analysing the outcomes of the activities and solutions developed.
As a result, support will not be limited to a single training session, but will be able to address broader school needs and help schools implement sustainable changes.
Who is the support under the “Professional Development of Education Staff” module intended for?
Support under Module 3 will be aimed primarily at people working within the education system, including:
- teachers,
- school educators,
- school psychologists,
- other school specialists,
- headteachers and school leaders,
- management staff,
- other people involved in working with students.
The activities are intended to strengthen the competences of education staff working in culturally and linguistically diverse environments and to better prepare schools to respond to the needs of the entire school community.
Project implementation
The activities are implemented under an agreement concluded with the Centre for Education Development.
Consortium leader:
Foundation Ukraine
ul. Ruska 46A/201
50-079 Wrocław
Partner:
Centre for Citizenship Education Foundation, acting through the Centre for Citizenship Education Teacher Training Institution
ul. Wspólna 47/49
00-680 Warszawa
Implementation period: until 31 August 2027
Programme support value: PLN 499,903,491.80
Contribution from European Funds: PLN 412,513,516.80
#FunduszeEuropejskie #FunduszeUE
The government programme for equal educational opportunities for children and young people “Friendly School” for 2025–2027 is co-financed by the European Social Fund Plus under the European Funds for Social Development 2021–2027 Programme, Measure 04.17 “School for All”, as well as from the state budget.
